The "Middle East and Terrorism" Blog was created in order to supply information about the implication of Arab countries and Iran in terrorism all over the world. Most of the articles in the blog are the result of objective scientific research or articles written by senior journalists.

From the Ethics of the Fathers: "He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it."

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Thursday, April 7, 2016

We're Being Too Nice to Iran - Elise Cooper

by Elise Cooper

"America should not sit by
passively as Iran talks about destroying an American ally."

President
Obama concluded the nuclear deal with Iran, hoping to change the
regime's behavior. Yet the Iranians have put a $7,000 bounty on a
Jewish person's head, have tested two ballistic missiles with the words
"death to Israel," and have supported Palestinian terrorist acts.
American Thinker interviewed Middle East experts about the dangers of
Iran.

Former
Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren still warns of the dangers
posed by Iran. He understands that the U.S. is not willing to rip up
its deal, but he is hopeful that the Americans will hold Iran to "the
treaty and norms of acceptable behavior. Let's remember that they are
talking about wiping a member state, and an American ally, off the map.
There should be repercussions for that. America should not sit by
passively as Iran talks about destroying an American ally."

Senator
Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) agrees and has co-authored a letter to the
president. In it he calls for making sure Israel's security needs are
satisfied. This includes funding a cooperative missile defense program
and continuing the existing aid programs over the next decade. Graham
directly commented to American Thinker, "I think our president is
delusional when it comes to Iran. This is a radical revolutionary power
with the ayatollah, a religious theocrat who believes there is no place
for the state of Israel. In the 1930s, people thought what Hitler
really wanted was only more land for the German people. They did not
realize he wanted to kill all the Jews and create a Master Race. At
least Neville Chamberlain could say Hitler lied; the Iranians are not
lying to us."

Senator
Graham believes that President Obama will not take any action against
Iran because he does not want to jeopardize the deal. But it has now
gone beyond that, considering that this administration is breaking its
promise by allowing Iranian business entities to conduct financial
transactions in U.S. dollars. The administration is basically allowing
Iran to open bank accounts with U.S. banks and to have access to the
U.S. banking sector.

The
senator is not ruling out sanctions against Iran's missile program and
provocative behavior. Yet he is not optimistic as long as Obama is
president, noting, "The next president must take off the table allowing
American banks to help finance any company that does business with
Iran. Any new sanctions cannot have the same waiver provisions as
today, because the current president will waive them."

Dennis
Ross, the recent author of the book Doomed to Succeed, also argues for
sanctions. He has been a direct participant in shaping U.S. policy
toward the Middle East, and Israel specifically, for nearly thirty
years, participating in two Republican and two Democratic
administrations. He thinks sanctions can work because the price of oil
is down and Iranian needs are massive. For him, "any sanctions imposed
can have a chilling effect, especially in the business sector. A
message will be sent to banks that before doing business with Iran think
twice; it could be costly. They have not changed who they are and did
this deal as a transaction, not a transformation."

He
advises the next president to "publicly focus on all Iran's executions
and human rights violations. We should be competing with them in the
propaganda world by reminding everyone who they are: a terrorist
regime."

Elliott
Abrams, former Middle East adviser to President George W. Bush, warns
that Hillary Clinton might not be as supportive of Israel as reflected
in her recent words, considering she still supports the Iranian nuclear
deal. He also points out that as secretary of state, she basically
threw out the Bush/Sharon deal regarding settlements and has said
nothing about the Obama administration's references as "illegitimate
settlements."

All
interviewed agree that the Palestinian problem is linked with Iran,
especially since they see as most disturbing the Iranian willingness to
pay Palestinians for killing Jews. The experts told American Thinker
that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli
opposition leader Isaac Herzog, who believe in a two-state solution,
have the right strategy. According to Abrams, "separation is the right
idea for Israel to maintain its Jewish statehood; otherwise, it becomes a
binational state. The problem is, you can't get there until Israel's
security is assured."

President
Obama cannot be trusted where Israel's security is concerned.
Supporters of Israel wonder if he will veto France's proposal to bring
the Israel-Palestinian conflict to the United Nations. Ambassador Oren
believes that "the way you bring the Palestinians to come to the table
and keep them there is by convincing them there is no daylight between
the U.S. and Israel's views. As I said over and over in my book Ally,
the notion of putting daylight between Israel and the U.S. to get
Palestinian cooperation has been disproven again and again. The U.N.
resolution is a big disaster and will have exactly the opposite effect.
Unfortunately, I do not have the utmost confidence the U.S. will veto
it."

Presidential
candidates have recently brought to the public's attention how
terrorists are glorified in Palestinian textbooks, as well as the naming
of schools, stadiums, and streets after them. Oren points out,
"Palestinians also use funds to pay terrorists' families, which is a big
problem. It is a fair statement to say that funding should be cut or
eliminated if they do not stop the symbolic rhetoric and actions.
Remember: this is part of where American taxpayers' money goes."

All
feel that the next president should do his or her best to restore
confidence and credibility with Israel and other American allies in the
Middle East. As Abrams noted, "since the Iranian deal seven months ago,
Iran's behavior is not getting any better, but is actually getting
worse." He makes a good point, considering they have embarrassed the
American military over the incident with detaining U.S. sailors,
test-fired ballistic missiles, are willing to pay Palestinians for
killing Jews, and have attempted to spread their influence in Syria,
Yemen, and Libya.

As
Iran spreads its power, President Obama through his actions and
rhetoric has eroded American credibility throughout the region. First
he makes a deal with the Iranians over the nuclear program that did not
establish ties with the nation's behavior or rhetoric. Yet just the
other day, the president stated, "Iran so far has followed the letter of
the agreement, but the spirit of the agreement involves Iran also
sending signals to the world community and businesses that it is not
going to be engaging in a range of provocative actions that are going to
scare businesses off."

American
Thinker's Rick Moran summarized it best: "I'm trying to decide what's
more jaw-dropping: Obama thinking Iran is interested in adhering to the
'spirit' of the treaty or that the president actually believed the
Iranians ever intended to adhere to it."

The
author writes for American Thinker. She has done book reviews and
author interviews and has written a number of national security,
political, and foreign policy articles.